Erosion of soils, beaches and paved and unpaved road surfaces is caused by environmental conditions such as wind, rain, water flow, temperature change such as freeze-thaw cycle and physical traffic.
Erosion has been combatted on soil surfaces by planting vegetation that binds the upper layer of the soil. Such plantings are not suitable on land subject to erosion if the land is to be subsequently used for agricultural purposes. Also, a wide variety of chemical combinations have been used to treat soils in order to prevent erosion from wind and water to control fugitive dust. Many of the previously applied stabilization chemicals may produce deleterious long term effects upon the soil surface or on the surrounding watershed.
Beach erosion due to storm damage, tidal effects, rain and wind remains a constant plague to seaside communities and beach front property owners. There is currently no known effective beach surface treatment to substantially reduce the occurrence of beach erosion, rather beaches simply erode and are then rebuilt by expensive sand refurbishing.
Rural road surfaces are typically formed by scraping and depositing of a layer of gravel or a bituminous or cementitious coating. Such road surfaces being constantly subjected to severe environmental conditions and traffic suffer erosion in the form of potholes, ruts, washboarding, and cracking.
Particles of dust and dirt arise from gravel during its formation from larger stone pieces as well as during subsequent deposition and usage on road surfaces. Typically dusty soils have been stabilized with aqueous solutions of polymers sometimes containing wetting agents such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,592,931; 3,900,611; 3,876,576; 3,763,072; and 3,696,621.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive composition and simple and reliable method to stabilize dusty ground surfaces against erosion.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a composition and method to control dust from gravel and stone during comminution and subsequent deposition on ground surfaces and roadways.
A further object is to provide a stabilizing composition and method to impregnate asphalt and cementitious compositions to improve the resistance of the subsequently formed surface coatings against erosion.
Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated upon review of the following detailed description.